California-110, 122 (!) and More Dog Days to Come

110°, 122° and More Dog Days to Come
By David Kelly and Melissa Pamer, Times Staff Writers
July 16, 2006

Excessive heat, severe fire danger, record-breaking energy consumption and,
on top of that, bad air and rising humidity made for a day of extremes in
Southern California on Saturday, with little relief expected in coming days.

Scorching temperatures reached into the triple digits, with only a few
degrees separating Los Angeles communities and far-flung desert locales: 104
in Burbank and 108 in Palmdale; 110 in Woodland Hills and 107 in Yucca
Valley. As the temperature rose, air conditioners hummed, busting
electricity usage records for a Saturday throughout most of Southern
California.

Downtown Los Angeles hit 97, falling one degree short of the record set in
1886, and at 89 degrees, the weather station at UCLA broke its record by one
point. Indio registered an all-time high of 122, and the San Diego Zoo's
Wild Animal Park broke its record with 108. Elsewhere, temperatures skirted
just below records, but mugginess made it feel much hotter.

"It's never been this hot," said Pam Ritchie, a San Fernando Valley native
who was melting ice cubes on her wrists while she watched her son play
baseball in the heat of the day at a Sherman Oaks park. Even this veteran of
San Fernando Valley heat griped: "This is different. This is like Arizona."

Today's temperatures are expected to be only a few degrees lower, the
National Weather Service said. And even though temperatures are expected to
drop a bit more by Monday, little relief is forecast because meteorologists
expect moisture-laced monsoonal winds to begin sweeping in.

Angelenos found both familiar and creative ways to stay cool. Umbrellas
became parasols in Chinatown. On Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Maximus Allen,
dressed as Batman and sweltering under a 10-pound black leather cape and a
Bat mask made entirely of black rubber, kept bottles of frozen water at his
waist.

The grass beneath almost every shade tree in Griffith Park was occupied by
families, among them the Jomas, who do not have air conditioning. "Here,
there's lots of shade," Roni Joma said. "If you go down to the beach,
there's no shade."

Yet the beaches were packed. At Zuma Beach in Malibu, the parking lot was
filled by 1 p.m. as 65,000 to 70,000 people sought sea breezes. Extra
lifeguards were on hand, instructing swimmers to stay close to lifeguard
stations. They urged beachgoers to make liberal use of water bottles and to
slather on sunscreen repeatedly after swimming, even the waterproof brands.

The heat continued to work against firefighters, who feared that increased
humidity could spawn thunderstorms and dry lightning as they continued their
assault on the massive Sawtooth Complex fire near Yucca Valley. The blaze
was 50% contained Saturday night.

Authorities said the 60,000-acre fire had claimed its first victim,
57-year-old Gerald Guthrie, whose body was found Saturday morning by a
search and rescue team a mile from his Pioneertown home. He had been missing
since Tuesday.

Fire authorities on Saturday could not estimate when the blaze would be
contained. The fire, ignited a week ago by lightning, crossed the
southeastern edge of the San Bernardino National Forest on Saturday
afternoon, burning into the San Bernardino Mountains.

By late afternoon Saturday, both Southern California Edison and the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power had reported new records for energy
use on a weekend. Circuits became overloaded in Simi Valley, causing a brief
outage.

Power demand in Edison's 50,000-square-mile service area, which includes
parts of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino
counties, reached a weekend record of 20,700 megawatts about 4 p.m., Conroy
said.

In Los Angeles, electricity demand hit 5,171 megawatts at 4:30 p.m.,
breaking the weekend record of 5,025 megawatts set last August, said Gale
Harris, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles DWP.

Demand for electricity is lower on weekends than weekdays, when offices,
schools and businesses are in operation. Unless the weather changes, power
officials expect demand on Monday to break the state's all-time power
consumption record.

Operators of the state power grid said they believe that they have enough
energy to meet expected demand today and Monday but appealed to Californians
to reduce energy use by setting thermostats at 78 or higher and avoiding
afternoon appliance use.

Saturday was also a bad air day, with unhealthful conditions across the Los
Angeles area. Ozone levels were high throughout the region, and wildfires
worsened the air in mountain and desert areas.

"It's kind of a double whammy," said Sam Atwood, spokesman for the South
Coast Air Quality Management District, which issued health advisories for
the third day in a row. "This is definitely one of the smoggier days we've
had this year."

But folks didn't need a record sheet to measure their heat-induced misery.

Truck driver Oscar Cardoso, 46, used his Peterbilt big rig cab's air
conditioning to keep his wife and four small children cool.

"I got air conditioning so strong it makes you put a jacket on," said
Cardoso, who had left his home in Victorville, where the high hit 111, and
savored a cool ride to Echo Park Lake, about 15 degrees cooler. He played
lakeside with his children, racing remote-controlled boats.

Then there was the topless runner who reveled in the heat of the day. At
midafternoon, Peter Van Helden was well into his 10-mile jog through
Griffith Park when passersby shouted: "Are you nuts?"

Van Helden tried to explain. "I came from Minnesota," he said. "There I ran
in 5 below or 10 below, so this is heaven for me."

"The hotter the better," he said before he resumed his run. "Bring it on."